How many blastos is ‘normal’?

[Gizmo247]

I know there cannot be one answer for this question, but I just wanted to get an idea of the range out there. I’m 40, my DH is 49. We’ve done 5 rounds of IVF/ICSI but only ever managed to get 1 or 2 x 5-day blastocysts developed each time, all of which have failed apart from one where we had a chemical pregnancy. How do these results fit in the general picture? I know it only takes one, but just trying to figure out how much of a chance we have at this.

[Cinderella5]

I moved onto DE at 39 but prior to that we did a couple of cycles with my OE and only ever got 1 or 2 5 day blasts per cycle. Our NHS consultant at the time gave us a 5% chance of success unfortunately.😕xx

[Gizmo247 in reply to Cinderella5]

Thanks, Cinderella and I wish you the best for your DE cycle. We’re there any other underlining issues for you guys that made the consultant give a 5% chance or was that based on the number of blastos?

[Cinderella5 in reply to Gizmo247]

Thank you! We are currently 26wks with twins. That was just the odds after seeing how our blastocysts developed and age. I just asked him to be honest and he was, cant say I was expecting it to be so low but at the same time it wasnt a huge shock!! My hubby had a very low sperm count but that wasnt a factor as when we went onto DE we got 6 top quality blastocysts on out first cycle out of 8 fertilised eggs.xxx

[Gizmo247 in reply to Cinderella5]

Oh wow! That is a great result and congratulations on your twins 😍

[Ivfgotadream]

Age 36 cycle 1 - 2 average blastocysts - 1 BFN 1 ruptured ectopic

cycle 2 - 2 average blastocysts- PGS tested neither normal - 1 BFN

cycle 3 - natural modified IVF - 2 top quality blastocysts ( my twins gave birth 2 weeks ago!)

cycle 4 - natural modified IVF - 2 top quality blastocysts (currently frozen)

cycle 5 - 0 blastocysts

My doctors said most people bodies are just not capable of making more than 2 blastocysts - if they were then multiple pregnancies would be the norm not the exception. We decided after cycle 1 and 2 which was short protocol IVF if I was only capable of making 2 blastocysts why bother forcing my body to produce loads of eggs. We stripped our protocol back and quality increased hugely

[Gizmo247 in reply to Ivfgotadream]

Oh that’s so encouraging to hear that natural modified IVF had such great results for you. Do you mind me asking what was your FSH and what dose were you on? Huge congratulations on your twins xx

[Ivfgotadream in reply to Gizmo247]

Thankyou! I don’t think the clinic tested my FSH in any of my cycles? My AMH was 12 though.

My natural modified stims dose was 150ml Bemfola every OTHER day

[Hidden]

Did you do PGS testing? I guess knowing if they are “normal” might help you decide next steps? Xx

[Gizmo247 in reply to Hidden]

We did it once and both came back abnormal. Couldn’t bear to do it again

[ChloeDE]

We did 2x own egg rounds (no known fertility issues. We were doing IVF for PGD testing) and got around 20 eggs between the two rounds but none made it to blastocyst (I was 37 at the time). We have since done 2x donor rounds - round one: 2x blastocysts and round 2: 3x blastocysts.

[Gizmo247 in reply to ChloeDE]

Thanks for this info and wishing you success with your DEs 🙏

[Ell493]

What is your AMH?

[Gizmo247 in reply to Ell493]

I don’t know

[Ell493 in reply to Gizmo247]

I would figure out what your blood work is if you want a true picture of your chances.

I saw a video of a fertility doctor saying most of our eggs won't become viable embryos. That's why it takes a lot of eggs to get a keeper. So as long as your blood work looks good it should eventually happen.

[Gizmo247 in reply to Ell493]

By blood work do you mean the AMH? Or anything else? We’ve just been told to get chromosome karyotype tests done

[Ell493 in reply to Gizmo247]

Yes, AMH and FSH, etc.

[Muppetgirl]

I was 45 and mine never made it to 5 days. I had 2 transfers at 3 days. First ended in a chemical pregnancy and the 2nd has given me my beautiful 1 year old little boy

[Gizmo247 in reply to Muppetgirl]

Wow! You are so incredibly lucky!!! So good to know your day 3 made it. Thanks for the inspiration

[Hope4another]

I had 4 eggs collected and 3 x 5 day blastocysts at age 40. One early miscarriage and two BFN. 2nd round age 41 same, but two out of three deteriorated right before being pga tested. The 3rd came back normal and we will transfer next month. I think it's unusual for almost all eggs collected to make it that far though.

[Gizmo247 in reply to Hope4another]

Thanks for this. I think you’re probably right that it’s unusual to get any other kind of results and I wish you so much luck for your 3rd round 🙏

[Sweatsour]

Hi Gizmo247, at age 39 I had 17 eggs collected after the long protocol. 9 fertilised, 5 were still going on day 3. Od day 5 only 2 survived and both were transferred. I am currently 38 pregnancy with one baby as the other one stopped developing at week 7. Dont loose hope .

[Gizmo247 in reply to Sweatsour]

Thanks, Sweatsour. I need the encouragement right now! Your numbers sound similar to mine so that has given me some hope. Thank you. I hope the rest of your pregnancy goes smoothly xx

[Pittuck23]

Hi, I was 32 and managed to get 3 5day blastos. One resulted in my 3 year old daughter, one didn’t work and the other I’m now 6 months with my son. Sending you lots of hugs and thoughts xx

[Gizmo247 in reply to Pittuck23]

Thank you 🙏

[bbti]

Hi Gizmo247, I'm 38, First cycle we had 11 eggs and had 2 blasts, one mmc and one BFN. Cycle 2 we had 13 eggs and 1 blast (5AA), currently in the 2ww! 🤞

[Gizmo247 in reply to bbti]

Wishing you so much luck 🙏🙏

[SCHNOW]

For my current cycle at 37, I got 12 eggs collected, 7 matured, 7 fertilized, 5 day 5 blastocysts, 3 are tested PGS normal. But for my previous ICSI cycles, we struggle to have day 5 blastocysts..... we didn’t know it was the high DFI problem of sperms. Once we figured out the results are much better than I was 34-35. So hard to say whether the main issue is from eggs or sperms. But from people around me, at the age of 40 still has a good chance to have a baby. Probably just need to try a bit more.

[Gizmo247 in reply to SCHNOW]

Thanks Schnow for your encouragement and it looks like you have amazing results. How did you improve the dfi of the sperm before this last round? We have been on proxceed and my husband has cut out alcohol. Is there anything else we can do?

[SCHNOW in reply to Gizmo247]

Lol, actually after having so many supplements like proxceed, it didn’t improve the Dfi at all! It only improved mobility and count. My husband doesn’t smoke, doesn’t drink much alcohol. We used PIMSI. Recommended by our clinic to use PICSI first then IMSI. But also need to have a look at DFI results whether there is small percentage of normal sperms. My understanding is Dfi only gives you the overall figures. For the same 40% dfi, some people might have 3-5% 0 damaged, some might don’t have any 0 damaged. They only need to find out a couple of good ones. It is purely technical or odds things if there is normal sperm. But if there isn’t any normal sperm. It is hard. I hope it makes sense. If you need more information or name of my clinic. You can send me a private message.

[Lapinblanc88]

2 blasto tout of 5 eggs with first cycle at 36: 1 chemical and one bfn

2nd cycle at 38: 5 blasto pgs resulting in 3 normal 3

1st embryo transferred ended in pregnancy! ( I'm 15weeks)

Whole protocole was changed as diff clinic. Also down reg for 3 weeks as I have endometriosis

Also took growth hormones and drugs were to the upper limited to stimulate me.( I had 10 eggs )

Progesterone before embryo transfer was also v high.

[Gizmo247]

Thanks for this and congratulations! How much progesterone did you take for your most recent transfer?

[articsnowfox]

At 39 i had 9 eggs collected and 4 top quality blastocysts (cycle 1), unfortunately due to lining issues (i think) none of them took. Cycle 2 (3 weeks before turning 40): 11 eggs collected and 6 top quality blastocysts, one of whom is my 3-year old son - most of the others didnt take due to lining issues (i think); Cycle 3 at 42 years: 11 eggs collected, 1 poor quality blastocyst (BFN); Cycle 4 at 43 years: 9 eggs collected, 2 top quality blastocysts, one of whom is my 9-month old

[Np7776 in reply to articsnowfox]

Hi articsnowfox seems like you had pretty good cycles. Do you mind sharing details on what protocol was used during each cycles, what supplements you were taking and what your amh and fsh counts were ?

[articsnowfox in reply to Np7776]

My AMH and FSH levels were pretty good, so hence the good outcome when I was 39/40 (I was on the long protocol at a gonal-F dose of 150IU). My cycle at 42 was basically a bust on the same protocol as before due to my age i think and i also started at 200IU for gonal-F (although my hormone levels were still pretty good, my eggs had still been sitting around for a long time!). For my last cycle at 43, we reduced the gonal-F dose to 175IU, and i also took micronized DHEA for 3 months and also had a slightly earlier egg retrieval - when the lead follicle was something like 18mm. Both of these changes helped my outcome i think, and were based on studies I read about supporting their use (ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl... and centerforhumanreprod.com/fe... )

[Daughterofaking]

Hi Gizmo247, at age 38 had first mild ivf, 9 eggs collected. 6 fertilized the embryologist advised 3 days embryo transfer as he said its better in the womb, which we did and the 2 implanted though lost one at 5 weeks plus. I have just delivered a baby boy early due to covid. The remaining 3 were frozen at 5 days blast. In the mild ivf i had 7 days of stims bemfola, centrotide and ovitrille trigger shot of 250g. Wish you all the best.

[Gizmo247 in reply to Daughterofaking]

Thanks. Is 9 eggs from mild IVF quite a high number? What prompted you to try mild? I think it’s what I need to do on my next round

[Daughterofaking in reply to Gizmo247]

Thats what the clinic I went to does.I went for mild as there was no known fertility issues. All the test carried out came back normal and they said I had unexplained infertility that I should relax and I will take in. But I did not have that patience at all.

[Daughterofaking in reply to Daughterofaking]

Sorry I meant to say mild ivf is what the clinic I went to does as I wanted something mild on my body since there is no known fertility issues.

[josephnsn]

At age 41 I got 4 blastocysts, just turned 42 and got 4 again. I was told on my first attempt by Guys hospital that they didn't expect to collect as many eggs (9) as they did at my age.

[josephnsn]

Ps. I got 2 blastocysts (1 they said they couldn't grade) and 1 morula at 44 and am now 36wks pregnant. So just don't know.

[Gizmo247 in reply to josephnsn]

Thanks Josephnsn, it seems like you got incredibly high numbers of blastocysts from the numbers of eggs you got. What kind of protocol were you on? Did you have any known fertility issues? Huge congratulations on your pregnancy and wishing you all the best 🙏🏼

[josephnsn]

Hi, for my first ICSI at Guys I was on long protocol. For my next 4 ICSI's I did short protocol as I was told by 1 clinic and I read up that this works better for older ladies. I don't have any fertility issues apart from age. The 2nd clinic told me it was a numbers game in my case and at age 42 out of every 15 eggs they collected 1 would be good. The only issue for us was male factor which is why we had to do ICSI.

Thanks! and good luck to you. I hope that soon you will be holding your little bundle of in your arms.

[Gizmo247 in reply to josephnsn]

I have had 100 eggs collected so far, but no luck yet. Thanks for your good wishes xx